I actually DID get up early in the morning, drove to Santa Paula, found the
Isuzu dealership, and was waiting at the service department way before anyone
showed up for work. At first they gave me a line about being backed up from
the previous week, and maybe not being able to do much today, so I just smiled,
asked them to then just take a look when they got the chance, and was generally
cheerful and charming, and started talking a little about my adventures. To
make a long story short, they not only ended up giving me a ride to a restaurant
in town where I could get breakfast, they also made a temporary fix to my
coolant leak, readjusted some stuff on the clutch to make it work much better,
and did a complete valve adjustment, all before noon, and all for less than
$200.

In the afternoon I once again found a gym on my list of clubs I don't have
to pay for and went for an extended workout - about 2 hours.

Later in the evening I decide to go out for a movie, since it may be a while
before I get the chance to do so again. I saw "Changing Lanes",
which was excellent.

Tomorrow the plans are to head up to Kings Canyon and Sequoia (they're kind
of conjoined national parks). From there I plan on going to Yosemite. I will
probably be off-line for a while, maybe over a week. So, if you don't see
anything new for a while, don't be surprised. There will probably be stories
and pictures worthwhile on the other end.